“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

Where is your treasure? What commands your focus? What do you live for? The answer to these questions is found by where you spend your time, energy, and attention. In the verses preceding today’s focal verse Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20). What he’s saying is don’t put your focus on things that don’t last; don’t live for things that have no eternal significance.

But how do we do this; how do we move our focus from the temporal to the eternal? It starts with desiring to know God and his ways. Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” As we pursue God and his ways the desires of his heart (i.e., the things that matter to him) will become the desires of our hearts as well. Like the Psalmist, we will be able to say: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalms 73:25).

We will begin to treasure what God treasures as we study his word and prayerfully apply it to our lives. As we diligently seek him, God will give us a renewed purpose and an eternal perspective in all that we do—in baseball and beyond. We can trust that God knows our needs and will meet them beyond our expectations as we seek Him first and store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

Question: Are you delighting yourself in the Lord today?

Challenge: Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the spiritual needs of someone around you and then invest in their life.

Prayer: Lord, please help us to seek you first that we may come to treasure what you treasure.